WO2013140633A1 - Replacement candidate presentation method, information processing device and program - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention simplifies a maintenance job that is based on report information from a device on which a replacement job is to be done. A computer stores configuration information that indicates an inclusivity relationship among replacement units by means of identification information that identifies multiple replacement units in the device, which is the device on which the replacement job is to be done. On the basis of the configuration information, the computer determines second identification information that indicates a second replacement unit that contains a first replacement unit within the device, said first replacement unit being indicated by first identification information contained in the report information sent from the device. Then, replacement candidate information containing the second identification information, which is for indicating that the second replacement unit is a replacement candidate, is output.

Description

Exchange candidate presentation method, information processing apparatus, and program

The present invention relates to an exchange candidate presentation method, an information processing device, and a program.

In an information processing system such as a data center, maintenance work is performed on a maintenance target device according to the occurrence state of a hardware failure or the like. The maintenance target device is a device to be subjected to maintenance work, and various hardwares such as a server, a network device, and a storage device are mounted on the casing. In the maintenance work, for example, work for replacing a faulty part in hardware is performed. When a hardware component fails, the maintenance target device sends a notification message to notify the maintenance center of an event such as the occurrence of a failure, and the maintenance center maintenance person determines the component to be replaced based on the received notification message. To do.

Maintenance work based on shipment information that associates device identification information and device shipping destination, device identification information, customer identification information that uses the device, and facility maintenance information that associates device failure occurrence time information There are also known ways to assist. In this method, a population that is a set of devices shipped to a predetermined shipping destination is obtained based on the shipping information, and the devices generated up to the time of reliability analysis in the population based on the facility maintenance information. Failure analysis is performed, and reliability analysis is performed based on the population and the failure record.

A maintenance work support method for displaying an efficient maintenance procedure in a computer operation service work is also known. In this method, information is collected in descending order of priority based on the processing time for each information collection work performed when processing a trouble case, and the history of information collection work for each trouble case and the work history including resolution actions. Align work. Next, based on the number of cases indicating that processing has been performed in the order of information collection work included in the work history, information collection work having a high priority of solution treatment is associated with the solution treatment with priority. Then, the maintenance procedure is displayed based on the solution collecting procedure associated with the result of arranging the information collecting work.

Also known is a control device that can easily acquire information on parts before replacement. The control device acquires a failure message including information on the failed component from the connection destination device, and stores the failure message and the information on the component replaced with the failed component in association with each other.

JP 2005-327201 A International Publication No. 2009/150737 Pamphlet International Publication No. 2009/110069 Pamphlet

The conventional maintenance work described above has the following problems.
When the maintenance server of the maintenance center performs a maintenance operation such as parts replacement every time a notification message is received from the maintenance target device, even if multiple component failures occur in the same maintenance target device, the component replacement is performed for each notification message. To be implemented. In this case, parts replacement is repeated many times for the same maintenance target device, and the maintenance work becomes complicated.

In particular, in a data center, a complex information processing system combining a plurality of servers, a plurality of network devices, a plurality of storage devices, and the like, or an information processing system including a large number of maintenance target devices may be used. . In such an information processing system, since a large number of notification messages may be generated, the maintenance work is further complicated, and the work burden on a maintenance person who performs failure analysis or the like tends to increase.

In one aspect, an object of the present invention is to simplify maintenance work based on report information from a target device that is a target of replacement work.

In one proposal, the storage unit stores configuration information indicating the inclusion relationship between the exchange units based on identification information for identifying a plurality of exchange units in the target device that is the target of the exchange work. The exchange candidate presentation method executed by the computer is based on the configuration information stored in the storage unit, and the first exchange unit in the target device indicated by the first identification information included in the notification information transmitted from the target device 2nd identification information which shows the 2nd exchange unit containing is calculated | required. Then, exchange candidate information including second identification information for indicating that the second exchange unit is an exchange candidate is output.

According to the replacement candidate presentation method in one embodiment, it is possible to simplify the maintenance work based on the report information from the target device that is the target of the replacement work.

It is a block diagram of a data center. It is a block diagram of a management server. It is a flowchart of a 1st exchange candidate presentation process. It is a functional block diagram of a process part. It is a figure which shows the information stored in a storage part. It is a figure which shows the format of a report message. It is a block diagram of an object apparatus. It is a figure which shows structure information. It is a figure which shows log | history information. It is a figure which shows maintenance policy information. It is a figure which shows the format of a maintenance message. It is a flowchart of the 2nd exchange candidate presentation process. It is a figure which shows the data center which has a server duplicated. It is a flowchart of a message analysis process. It is a flowchart of a history analysis process. It is a flowchart of a maintenance policy acquisition process. It is a flowchart of an exchange unit analysis process. It is a flowchart of the process which changes log | history information and maintenance policy information. It is a block diagram of information processing apparatus.

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of an information processing system in a data center. The data center 101 in FIG. 1 includes a management server 111 and N target devices 112-1 to 112-N (N is an integer of 1 or more). Hereinafter, one of the target devices 112-1 to 112-N may be referred to as the target device 112.

The target device 112-1 to the target device 112-N are devices to be subjected to maintenance work including replacement work, and communicate with the management server 111 via the communication network 113 such as Local Area Network (LAN). One or more types of hardware among servers, network devices, storage devices, and the like are mounted on the casing of the target device 112.

The management server 111 is an information processing device (computer) that performs exchange candidate presentation processing based on the notification information transmitted from the target device 112-1 to the target device 112 -N. It communicates with the maintenance server 121. From the management server 111 to the maintenance server 121, notification information, replacement candidate information, and the like transmitted from the target device 112-1 to the target device 112-N are transmitted.

For example, a report message is used as the report information. In addition to the report message, information such as text data, voice data, and image data can be used as the report information.

The maintenance server 121 is an information processing apparatus that displays replacement candidate information received from the management server 111 on a display screen. A maintenance person of the maintenance center 102 can perform an operation of exchanging exchange units of the target devices 112-1 to 112-N based on the displayed replacement candidate information.

FIG. 2 shows a configuration example of the management server 111 of FIG. The management server 111 in FIG. 2 includes a processing unit 201, a storage unit 202, and an output unit 203. The storage unit 202 stores configuration information 211 indicating an inclusion relationship between exchange units based on identification information for identifying a plurality of exchange units in the target device 112.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of exchange candidate presentation processing by the management server 111 of FIG. Based on the configuration information 211 stored in the storage unit 202, the processing unit 201 includes a first replacement unit in the target device indicated by the first identification information included in the notification information transmitted from the target device 112. Second identification information indicating two exchange units is obtained (step 301).

The output unit 203 outputs exchange candidate information including second identification information for indicating that the second exchange unit is an exchange candidate (step 302). At this time, the output unit 203 may output the replacement candidate information on a display provided in the management server 111 or may transmit the replacement candidate information to the maintenance server 121.

According to such replacement candidate presentation processing, maintenance work based on the report information from the target device 112 can be simplified.

FIG. 4 shows a functional configuration example of the processing unit 201 in FIG. The processing unit 201 in FIG. 4 includes a message processing unit 401, a message monitoring unit 402, a message analysis unit 403, a history analysis unit 404, and an exchange unit analysis unit 405. Processing performed by these functional units will be described later.

FIG. 5 shows an example of information stored in the storage unit 202 of FIG. The storage unit 202 in FIG. 5 stores a notification message 501, configuration information 502, history information 503, and maintenance policy information 504.

The notification message 501 is one or more notification messages transmitted from the target device 112-1 to the target device 112-N, and is transferred to the maintenance server 121 as necessary. Each notification message has a format as shown in FIG. 6, for example.

6 includes a detection source ID 601, a location ID 602, a date 603, a time 604, a level 605, a message ID 606, a component ID 607, failure information 608, detailed information 609, and data 610.

The detection source ID 601 is identification information of the system monitoring apparatus that has detected the failure event, and the location ID 602 is identification information indicating the location where the failure event has occurred in the target device 112. The location ID 602 includes, for example, identification information for the casing of the target device 112 and identification information for identifying a partition in the target device 112. Date 603 and time 604 represent the date and time when the failure event was detected.

Level 605 is information indicating the failure level of the failure event. For example, in the case of a serious failure that affects the continuation of the operation of the information processing system, level E indicating an error is set as level 605. Further, when the information processing system can continue the operation, the level W indicating the warning is set as the level 605, and when it is just notification information, the level I is set as the level 605.

The message ID 606 is identification information indicating the type of notification message determined based on the operation guidelines for maintenance work, and the component ID 607 is identification information indicating a component (failed component) in which a failure event has occurred. An operation guideline for maintenance work is created based on an agreement between the maintenance person of the maintenance center 102 and the owner who owns the data center 101 and performs business.

The failure information 608 is information indicating the content of the failure event, and the detailed information 609 is information indicating the details of the failed part. As the detailed information 609, for example, the part number, serial number, model name, etc. of the failed part are set. Data 610 is data such as measured values of the sensor used for detecting the failure event.

Note that the notification message does not need to include all of the information in FIG. 6, and some information can be omitted.

The configuration information 502 in FIG. 5 corresponds to the configuration information 211 in FIG. 2 and represents the inclusion relationship between the exchange units in each target device 112 of the data center 101. Here, a specific example of the configuration information 502 will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8.

FIG. 7 shows a configuration example of the target device 112. The target device 112 in FIG. 7 includes servers 701-1 to 701-3, and the server 701-1 includes a system monitoring device 710, a system board (SB) 711-1, and SB 711-2.

The SB 711-1 includes Central Processing Unit (CPU) 721-1 and 721-2, memories 722-1 to 722-4, a hard disk drive (HDD) 723-1, and an HDD 723-2 as components.

In this case, the chassis of the target device 112, the server 701-1 to the server 701-3, the SB 711-1, the SB 711-2, the CPU 721-1, the CPU 721-2, the memory 722-1 to the memory 722-4, the HDD 723-1, And each of the HDDs 723-2 can be one exchange unit.

Hereinafter, one of the servers 701-1 to 701-3 may be referred to as the server 701, and the SB 711-1 or SB 711-2 may be referred to as the SB 711. The same applies to the CPU 721-1, the CPU 721-2, the memories 722-1 to 722-4, the HDD 723-1, and the HDD 723-2.

The number of CPUs 721, memories 722, or HDDs 723 included in SB 711-1 is not limited to the number shown in FIG. 7, and may be an integer of 1 or more. Further, the SB 711-1 may include other components such as an input / output interface.

The configuration of SB711-2 may be the same as or different from the configuration of SB711-1. The number of SBs 711 included in the server 701-1 is not limited to the number shown in FIG.

The configurations of the servers 701-2 and 701-3 may be the same as or different from the configuration of the server 701-1. The number of servers 701 included in the target device 112 is not limited to the number shown in FIG. 7 and may be an integer of 1 or more. Furthermore, the target device 112 may be equipped with other hardware such as a network device or a storage device instead of the server 701.

The system monitoring device 710 monitors the operating state of the server 701-1 and detects an event occurring in the server 701-1. Then, a notification message including a detection source ID 601 and a location ID corresponding to the system monitoring apparatus 710 and a level 605 corresponding to the detected event is transmitted to the management server 111. The number of system monitoring devices 710 in the server 701-1 is not limited to one, and one system monitoring device 710 may be provided for each SB 711.

FIG. 8 shows an example of the configuration information 502 of the target device 112 in FIG. 8 includes a configuration ID 801 and hierarchy information 802. The configuration ID 801 is identification information of the configuration information 502, and the hierarchy information 802 is information indicating the inclusion relationship between exchange units in the target device 112. In the example of FIG. 8, the target device 112 is provided with four layers from the first layer to the fourth layer from the upper layer to the lower layer, and identification information of exchange units belonging to each layer is set.

For example, C1 of the first hierarchy is identification information of the casing of the target device 112, SV1 to SV3 of the second hierarchy are identification information of the servers 701-1 to 701-3, respectively, and SB1 and SB2 are identification information of SB711-1 and SB711-2, respectively. The CPU1 and CPU2 in the fourth hierarchy are identification information of the CPU 721-1 and the CPU 721-2, respectively, and the MEM1 to MEM4 in the fourth hierarchy are identification information of the memories 722-1 to 722-4, respectively. The fourth level HDD1 and HDD2 are identification information of the HDD 723-1 and HDD 723-2, respectively.

In this case, the chassis of the target device 112, the server 701-1 to the server 701-3, the SB 711-1, the SB 711-2, the CPU 721-1, the CPU 721-2, the memory 722-1 to the memory 722-4, the HDD 723-1, Each of HDD 723-2 is a replacement unit. Furthermore, the parts included in SB2, the SBs and parts included in SV1 and SV3, and the like also serve as replacement units, and identification information of those replacement units is also set in the hierarchy information.

Hierarchy information 802 indicates that the exchange unit indicated by the identification information set in one hierarchy includes the exchange unit indicated by the identification information set in a hierarchy lower than that hierarchy. Therefore, in the example of FIG. 8, it can be seen that the casing of the target device 112 includes the servers 701-1 to 701-3, and the server 701-1 includes the SB 711-1 and the SB 711-2. Further, it can be seen that the SB 711-1 includes the CPU 721-1, the CPU 721-2, the memories 722-1 to 722-4, the HDD 723-1, and the HDD 723-2.

The configuration information 502 is stored, for example, in a storage device mounted on an SB or a component, and the mounting position and other mounting information of each replacement unit collected by a collecting device mounted on hardware such as a server. Further, it can be set based on the configuration information of the exchange unit.

Note that the number of layers of the layer information 802 is not limited to four, and may be an integer of 2 or more. The configuration information 502 is not necessarily described using the hierarchy information 802, and may be described using other information that can indicate the inclusion relationship between the exchange units.

Next, the history information 503 in FIG. 5 includes each of one or more notification messages transmitted from the target device 112-1 to the target device 112-N in the past, and identification information of the exchange unit exchanged at that time. Is information associated with each other. As a notification message included in the history information 503, a notification message transmitted from another data center to the maintenance server 121 may be added.

FIG. 9 shows an example of the history information 503. The history information 503 in FIG. 9 includes items of a pattern name 901, an occurrence period 902, an urgency / weight 903, a configuration ID 904, a message ID 905, a frequency 906, an environment 907, a configuration name 908, a condition 909, and an exchange unit 910.

The pattern name 901 is identification information for identifying maintenance work that has occurred in the past, and the occurrence period 902 represents the period during which the maintenance work has occurred. The urgency of the urgency / weight 903 represents the urgency of maintenance work, and the weight is information obtained by quantifying the urgency. The configuration ID 904 is identification information of the configuration information 502 of the target device 112 that is the target of maintenance work, and the message ID 905 is identification information of a notification message that triggered the maintenance work.

The frequency 906 represents the occurrence frequency of the event indicated by the notification message, and the environment 907 is information indicating the environment such as the temperature in the target device 112 when the event occurs. The configuration name 908 is a name representing the configuration of the target device 112 when the event occurs, and the condition 909 represents the operating condition of the target device 112 when the event occurs. This operating condition includes, for example, identification information such as an operating system and an application program executed by the target device 112. The replacement unit 910 represents the type of replacement unit actually replaced in the maintenance work. For example, a case, server, SB, CPU, memory, HDD, or the like is used as the type of replacement unit.

Note that the history information 503 does not need to include all the items in FIG. 9, and some items can be omitted. In addition to the message ID 905, other information such as failure information 608, detailed information 609, and data 610 included in the notification message may be included in the history information 503.

Next, the maintenance policy information 504 in FIG. 5 is information set in accordance with a maintenance policy that is an operation policy of maintenance work. The maintenance policy in the data center 101 is preferably changeable according to the situation for each type of exchange unit in accordance with the owner's operation policy. Therefore, the maintenance server 121 sets local maintenance policy information 504 for each of the management servers 111 of the plurality of data centers 101 via the communication network 103.

FIG. 10 shows an example of the maintenance policy information 504 in FIG. The maintenance policy information 504 in FIG. 10 includes replacement candidate change information 1001 and inhibition information 1002.

Replacement candidate change information 1001 is information for specifying replacement candidate change, and includes items of change specification 1011, condition 1012, and preventive replacement 1013. The change designation 1011 represents how to change the exchange candidate. For example, one of the following designations is set in the change designation 1011.

(1) Minimum unit: The smallest exchange unit (the exchange unit of the lowest hierarchy) among the exchange units included in the exchange unit indicated by the notification message is presented as an exchange candidate.
(2) Large exchange unit: An exchange unit including the exchange unit indicated by the notification message (an exchange unit in a higher hierarchy) is presented as an exchange candidate.
(3) Product: The sales unit including the exchange unit indicated by the notification message (upper hierarchy exchange unit) is presented as an exchange candidate.
(4) Enclosure: The entire target device 112 (the exchange unit of the highest hierarchy) including the exchange unit indicated by the notification message is presented as an exchange candidate.

The condition 1012 is information indicating a condition when the replacement work is not performed. The condition 1012 is set, for example, that a failure event has occurred in specific hardware, specific components, or the like. When a failure event corresponding to the condition 1012 occurs, the replacement is not performed and the target device 112 autonomously changes the configuration. For example, when the hardware is duplicated, the configuration is changed by switching the current hardware to the spare hardware. In addition, the entire replacement unit such as a failed hardware or SB may be discarded without changing the configuration.

Preventive replacement 1013 is information for designating whether or not replacement work is to be performed in order to prevent a failure from occurring.

Suppression information 1002 is information for specifying a suppression range of the notification message, and includes items of level 1021, target device 1022, and message 1023.

The level 1021 is information indicating the level 605 of the notification message to be suppressed, and the target device 1022 is the target device that is the transmission source of the notification message to be suppressed among the target devices 112-1 to 112-N. This is information for designating the range 112. As the target device 1022, identification information of a housing is set. The message 1023 is information representing a list of notification messages to be excluded from the suppression target. For example, a specific message ID 606 is set in the list of notification messages.

As described above, since the replacement candidate information indicating the replacement candidate is transmitted from the management server 111 to the maintenance server 121, it is considered unnecessary to transmit all the notification messages to the maintenance server 121 as in the past. Therefore, for example, in order to reduce the number of notification messages transmitted from the management server 111 to the maintenance server 121, the management server 111 suppresses transmission of the notification message based on the suppression information 1002 set in the maintenance policy information 504. To do.

By using the suppression information 1002, the amount of messages transmitted from the data center 101 to the maintenance center 102 can be reduced or customized. For example, it is possible to suppress a level I notification message having a relatively low level among the above-described levels E, W, and I of the notification message. Even if it is a level I notification message, a particularly necessary notification message can be sent to the maintenance server 121 as a message 1023 by excluding it from the suppression target.

Note that the maintenance policy information 504 does not need to include all the items in FIG. 10, and some items can be omitted. For example, the condition 1012 and the preventive replacement 1013 in the replacement candidate change information 1001 may be omitted, and the target device 1022 and the message 1023 in the suppression information 1002 may be omitted. Further, if it is not necessary to suppress the notification message, the suppression information 1002 may be omitted.

FIG. 11 shows a format of a maintenance message transmitted from the management server 111 to the maintenance server 121 by the replacement candidate presentation process. The maintenance message in FIG. 11 includes a date 1101, a time 1102, a period 1103, a transmission source ID 1104, replacement candidate information 1105, and detailed information 1106.

Date 1101 and time 1102 represent the date and time when the maintenance message was generated, and period 1103 represents a message monitoring period in the exchange candidate presentation process. The management server 111 generates a maintenance message based on the notification message received within this message monitoring period. The transmission source ID 1104 is identification information of the data center 101 to which the management server 111 that generated the maintenance message belongs.

The exchange candidate information 1105 is information indicating exchange candidates to be exchanged in the data center 101. As the exchange candidate information 1105, for example, identification information of one or more exchange units that are exchange candidates determined by the exchange candidate presentation process is set. Detailed information 1106 is information indicating details of the failure event. As the detailed information 1106, for example, information such as a component ID 607, failure information 608, and detailed information 609 included in the notification message is set.

Note that the maintenance message does not need to include all the information in FIG. 11, and some information can be omitted.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing an example of exchange candidate presentation processing by the management server 111 including the processing unit 201 of FIG.

When the message processing unit 401 of the processing unit 201 receives the notification message from the target device 112-1 to the target device 112-N, the message processing unit 401 stores the notification message as the notification message 501 in the storage unit 202 (step 1201). The notification message 501 can be provided in the storage unit 202 as a log file, for example.

Next, the message monitoring unit 402 checks whether or not the message monitoring period has elapsed (step 1202). If the message monitoring period has not elapsed (step 1202, NO), the message processing unit 401 proceeds to step 1201. Repeat the process. The message monitoring period is set in units of hours, days, weeks, months, etc. based on the maintenance work operation policy.

When the message monitoring period elapses (step 1202, YES), the message analysis unit 403 performs message analysis processing for extracting a notification message used for the exchange unit analysis processing from the notification message 501 (step 1203). In this message analysis process, a notification message received within the message monitoring period and stored as a notification message 501 is processed.

Next, the history analysis unit 404 performs a history analysis process for extracting a notification message corresponding to a past notification message included in the history information 503 from the notification message 501 (step 1204). Also in this history analysis process, a notification message received within the message monitoring period and stored as a notification message 501 is a processing target.

Next, the replacement unit analysis unit 405 performs maintenance policy acquisition processing for acquiring the maintenance policy information 504 (step 1205), and performs replacement unit analysis processing based on the maintenance policy information 504 (step 1206). In the replacement unit analysis process, based on the part ID 607, the configuration information 502, and the maintenance policy information 504 included in the notification message extracted in step 1203, the target device 112 that is the target of the replacement work and the replacement candidate. An exchange unit is determined. Then, exchange candidate information indicating the determined exchange candidate is generated.

Next, the replacement unit analysis unit 405 determines whether or not to change the configuration of the determined target device 112 based on the replacement candidate change information 1001 included in the maintenance policy information 504 of FIG. 10 (step 1207). . When the configuration change is made (step 1207, YES), the exchange unit analysis unit 405 transmits the configuration change request to the target device 112, and the target device 112 that has received the configuration change request receives the requested configuration change. Is autonomously performed (step 1208).

In step 1207, it is determined that the configuration change is performed when a failure event corresponding to the condition 1012 of the replacement candidate change information 1001 occurs, and the configuration change request is transmitted to the target device 112 in which the failure event has occurred.

FIG. 13 shows an example in which the target device 112 autonomously changes the configuration. In the data center 101 of FIG. 13, the server 1301-i of the target device 112-i (i = 1, 2,..., N) is duplicated by a spare server 1302-i. Upon receiving the configuration change request from the management server 111, the target device 112-i switches the active server from the server 1301-i to the spare server 1302-i and changes the configuration.

This makes it possible to continue service operation by replacing the entire hardware when a failure event such as a failure of an important part occurs, without having to perform replacement work by maintenance personnel. Servers 1301-i that are no longer active due to switching can be periodically collected and replaced with new spare servers.

In step 1208, instead of switching the replacement unit such as a server to a spare device, the configuration may be changed by degenerating the replacement unit such as SB, CPU, or memory.

Next, the exchange unit analysis unit 405 determines whether to suppress the notification message based on the suppression information 1002 included in the maintenance policy information 504 of FIG. 10 (step 1209). When the exchange unit analysis unit 405 suppresses the notification message (step 1209, YES), the exchange unit analysis unit 405 suppresses transmission of the notification message to the maintenance server 121 (step 1210).

In step 1209, if the suppression target is set in the level 1021 of the suppression information 1002 or the target device 1022, it is determined that the notification message is suppressed. In this case, among the notification messages received from the target device 112 corresponding to the information of the target device 1022, the notification message having the level 605 corresponding to the information of the level 1021 becomes the suppression target. On the other hand, the notification message corresponding to the information of the message 1023 is excluded from the suppression target.

By suppressing the notification message, the amount of messages transmitted from the data center 101 to the maintenance center 102 can be controlled, and the amount can be prevented from becoming enormous. Even when a notification message is suppressed, a particularly required notification message can be transmitted by setting it individually in the message 1023.

Next, the exchange unit analysis unit 405 transmits a maintenance message including the exchange candidate information generated by the exchange unit analysis process to the maintenance server 121 (step 1211). Based on the maintenance message received from the management server 111, the maintenance server 121 displays information for presenting replacement candidates on the display screen. Thereby, the maintenance person of the maintenance center 102 can perform an operation of exchanging the exchange unit corresponding to the presented exchange candidate.

If the configuration is changed in step 1208, the replacement work may not be performed. When the replacement work is not performed, it is not necessary to present replacement candidates to the maintenance person, so that transmission of the maintenance message can be omitted.

The exchange unit analysis unit 405 performs the processing after step 1209 when the configuration is not changed (step 1207, NO), and performs the processing of step 1211 when the notification message is not suppressed (step 1209, NO).

Next, the processing performed in steps 1203 to 1206 in FIG. 12 will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing an example of message analysis processing in step 1203 of FIG. First, the message analysis unit 403 classifies the notification messages received within the message monitoring period for each level indicated by the level 605, and extracts the notification messages of the levels E, W, and I (step 1401).

Next, the message analysis unit 403 classifies each level of the notification message for each component indicated by the component ID 607, and extracts the notification message for each component (step 1402). Then, the message analysis unit 403 checks whether or not a plurality of level E notification messages having the same component ID 607 have been extracted (step 1403).

When a plurality of level E notification messages having the same component ID 607 are extracted (step 1403, YES), the message analysis unit 403 records these notification messages in the storage unit 202 (step 1406).

On the other hand, when a plurality of level E notification messages having the same component ID 607 are not extracted (NO in step 1403), the message analysis unit 403 then reports the level E and level W having the same component ID 607. It is checked whether a set of messages has been extracted (step 1404).

When a combination of level E and level W notification messages having the same component ID 607 is extracted (step 1404, YES), the message analysis unit 403 records these notification messages in the storage unit 202 (step 1406). If a plurality of level E notification messages having the same component ID 607 are extracted, the plurality of notification messages are recorded. Similarly, when a plurality of level W notification messages having the same component ID 607 are extracted, the plurality of notification messages are recorded.

On the other hand, if a set of level E and level W notification messages having the same component ID 607 has not been extracted (step 1404, NO), the message analysis unit 403 then determines a certain number or more having the same component ID 607. It is checked whether or not a level W notification message has been extracted (step 1405).

When a certain number or more of level W notification messages having the same component ID 607 are extracted (step 1405, YES), the message analysis unit 403 records these notification messages in the storage unit 202 (step 1406). On the other hand, when a certain number or more of level W notification messages having the same component ID 607 are not extracted (step 1405, NO), the message analysis unit 403 ends the process.

According to such message analysis processing, an error message of level E that is an error message concentrated in a certain period due to a failure of the same part or a notification message of level W that is a warning message is specified. can do.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing an example of history analysis processing in step 1204 of FIG. First, the history analysis unit 404 classifies the notification messages received within the message monitoring period for each level indicated by the level 605, and extracts the notification messages of the levels E, W, and I (step 1501).

Next, the history analysis unit 404 refers to the history information 503 in the storage unit 202 and checks whether there is an entry corresponding to each extracted notification message (step 1502). Here, for example, an entry of the history information 503 having a message ID 905 that matches the message ID 606 of the notification message is searched.

When there is an entry corresponding to the notification message (step 1502, YES), the history analysis unit 404 next refers to the storage unit 202 and includes the case of the target device 112 included in the location ID 602 of the notification message. Configuration information 502 including identification information is acquired (step 1503). Then, the history analysis unit 404 compares the configuration ID 801 of the acquired configuration information 502 with the configuration ID 904 of the entry of the history information 503 (step 1504).

If the configuration ID 801 of the configuration information 502 matches the configuration ID 904 of the entry of the history information 503 (step 1504, YES), the history analysis unit 404 stores an exchange candidate in the storage unit 202 based on the information of the exchange unit 910 of the entry. Record (step 1505). Here, for example, of the exchange unit identification information included in the configuration information 502, the exchange unit identification information corresponding to the type indicated by the exchange unit 910 is recorded as an exchange candidate.

The history analysis unit 404 determines that there is no history information 503 entry corresponding to the notification message (step 1502, NO), or the configuration ID 801 of the configuration information 502 and the configuration ID 904 of the history information 503 entry do not match (step 1504). NO) terminates the process.

If the failure information 608, detailed information 609, data 610, and the like of FIG. 6 are included in the history information 503, the history information having information that matches the information included in each notification message in step 1502 503 entries may be searched.

In step 1502, if there are a plurality of entries of history information 503 corresponding to the notification message and the urgency / weight 903 is set for these entries, a certain number of priority is given to the entries from the largest weight. An entry may be selected.

According to such history analysis processing, it is possible to present the same type of exchange unit as the exchange candidate of this time, which has been exchanged based on a failure event that has occurred in the past. Further, by using the history information 503 including the history of the other data center managed by the maintenance center 102, the accuracy of the replacement candidate can be improved based on the result of the replacement work performed at the other data center. .

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing an example of the maintenance policy acquisition process in step 1205 of FIG. The exchange unit analysis unit 405 first checks whether there is a notification message recorded in step 1406 of FIG. 14 (step 1601). If there is a recorded notification message (step 1601, YES), the exchange unit analysis unit 405 acquires the maintenance policy information 504 from the storage unit 1603 (step 1603).

On the other hand, if there is no recorded notification message (step 1601, NO), the exchange unit analysis unit 405 next checks whether there is an exchange candidate recorded in step 1505 of FIG. 15 (step 1602). . If there is a recorded replacement candidate (step 1602, YES), the replacement unit analysis unit 405 acquires the maintenance policy information 504 from the storage unit 1603 (step 1603). If there is no recorded exchange candidate (step 1602, NO), the exchange unit analysis unit 405 ends the process.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing an example of the exchange unit analysis process in step 1206 of FIG. The exchange unit analysis unit 405 first checks the inclusion relationship between exchange units using the notification message recorded in step 1406 of FIG. 14 and the exchange candidate recorded in step 1505 of FIG. 15 (step 1701). ).

Here, for example, the inclusion relation between the exchange units is checked by using the exchange unit indicated by the component ID 607 included in the recorded notification message and the exchange unit indicated by the recorded replacement candidate. At this time, the configuration information 502 including the identification information of the casing of the target device 112 included in the location ID 602 of the recorded notification message, and the configuration information 502 used when determining the recorded replacement candidate are: Used for checking the inclusion relationship. Furthermore, the target device 112 indicated by the place ID 602 is determined as a target for replacement work.

Then, the replacement unit analysis unit 405 changes the replacement candidate according to the change specification 1011 of the maintenance policy information 504, and generates replacement candidate information 1105 including identification information of the changed replacement candidate (step 1702).

For example, when a large exchange unit is set as the change designation 1011, a larger exchange unit including the exchange unit to be processed is determined as the exchange candidate after the change. When the configuration information 502 of FIG. 8 is used, if MEM1 and MEM2 of the fourth hierarchy are included in the processing target, for example, SB1 of the third hierarchy including MEM1 and MEM2 is determined as a replacement candidate after change. .

If a product is set as the change designation 1011, the sales unit including the exchange unit to be processed is determined as the exchange candidate after the change. For example, if MEM1 and MEM2 in the fourth hierarchy are included in the processing target and the server is a sales unit, SV1 in the second hierarchy including MEM1 and MEM2 is determined as the replacement candidate after the change.

If a case is set as the change designation 1011, the case of the target device 112 including the replacement unit to be processed is determined as a replacement candidate after change. For example, if MEM1 and MEM2 of the fourth hierarchy are included in the processing target, C1 of the first hierarchy including MEM1 and MEM2 is determined as the replacement candidate after the change.

The exchange candidate after the change need not be one exchange unit, and may be a plurality of exchange units. When there are a plurality of exchange units as exchange candidates, priority is added in order from the exchange unit of the first hierarchy included in the configuration information 502 to the lower hierarchy, and the exchange candidate information 1105 is Can be generated. Furthermore, the exchange unit itself to be processed may be included in the exchange candidate information 1105 as an exchange candidate.

For example, an exchange candidate that includes C1 of the first hierarchy as the first candidate, SV1 of the second hierarchy as the second candidate, SB1 of the third hierarchy as the third candidate, and MEM1 and MEM2 of the fourth hierarchy as the fourth candidate Information 1105 can be generated.

According to such replacement unit analysis processing, not only the individual parts indicated by the part ID 607 included in the notification message, but also a larger replacement unit including one or more parts that may have failed may be replaced. Can be presented as It is also possible to present a larger replacement unit including parts replaced based on a failure event that occurred in the past as a replacement candidate. For example, when a failure event occurs again in a memory that has been replaced in the past, the entire SB including the memory can be presented as a replacement candidate, instead of replacing the same memory again. This greatly simplifies the maintenance work of the maintenance personnel.

For example, when an error message or warning message is generated from a plurality of memories mounted on one SB, it is determined that a plurality of failures have occurred on the same SB, and the SB is designated as a replacement candidate. The exchange candidate information 1105 to be generated can be generated. The maintenance message including the replacement candidate information 1105 is transmitted to the maintenance center 102 separately from the individual error messages and warning messages. As a result, the maintenance person can select whether to replace a plurality of memories or replace the entire SB in a single replacement operation.

As the configuration information 502, in addition to the hardware configuration of the target device 112, information on the logical configuration of the hardware, the connection configuration with the network device, and the like may be set. In this case, the exchange unit analysis unit 405 can obtain exchange candidates based on, for example, a failure of a logical interface on the SB or a failure between communication networks.

According to the exchange candidate presentation process described above, the exchange candidate can be flexibly changed based on a plurality of types of notification messages from the system monitoring apparatus 710 in the target apparatus 112. As a result, even when a plurality of hardware failure events occur, depending on the situation, it is possible to avoid duplication of replacement work and reduce the work amount of the maintenance personnel. Further, since the number of notification messages transmitted to the maintenance center 102 can be reduced, the work amount of the maintenance person is further reduced.

In addition, the maintenance policy information 504 is used to distinguish between a case where a part of the hardware is replaced and a case where the entire hardware is replaced without performing the part replacement to extremely simplify the maintenance work. It becomes possible. Furthermore, the maintenance work can be optimized by comparing the cost of the replacement work with the cost of the replacement unit.

By the way, the maintenance policy information 504 set in the management server 111 of each data center 101 is based on the operation policy of the maintenance work, according to the type and number of hardware included in the target device 112, and the target device 112. It is desirable that it can be changed according to the operational status.

Also, the maintenance center 102 can collect various system information, hardware information, notification messages, etc. from a plurality of data centers 101 for maintenance work. Then, statistical data processing is performed on the collected information, and the history information 503 can be updated based on the collected information and the result of the data processing. Therefore, it is desirable that the updated history information 503 can be reflected in the history information 503 set in the management server 111 of the data center 101.

Therefore, it is conceivable to provide a procedure for changing the history information 503 and the maintenance policy information 504 of each data center 101 by remote operation from the maintenance center 102.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing in which the maintenance server 121 of the maintenance center 102 changes the history information 503 and the maintenance policy information 504. The maintenance server 121 first updates the maintenance policy information 504 according to the type and number of hardware included in the target device 112 or the operation status of the target device 112 (step 1801).

Next, the maintenance server 121 performs statistical data processing on the information collected from the plurality of data centers 101 and updates the history information 503 (step 1802). Then, the maintenance server 121 transmits the updated history information 503 and maintenance policy information 504 to the management server 111 (step 1803). The management server 111 updates the history information 503 and maintenance policy information 504 in the storage unit 202 using the received history information 503 and maintenance policy information 504 (step 1804).

In step 1803, the history information 503 may be selectively transmitted to another data center having the same hardware or system as the data center where the failure event has occurred, or to another data center performing the same operation. it can.

In this way, by transferring the history information of failure events that occurred in one data center to another data center with a similar operating environment, you can refer to the replacement work that has already been performed for the same type of device in another data center. Thus, it is possible to determine exchange candidates efficiently. Further, by changing the information on the urgency / weight 903 included in the history information 503 based on the result of the data processing performed by the maintenance server 121, the accuracy of the replacement candidate can be improved.

The flowcharts shown in FIGS. 12 and 14 to 18 are merely examples, and some processes may be omitted or changed depending on the configuration and conditions of the data center 101 or the maintenance center 102. For example, when there is no need to refer to a failure event that occurred in the past, the history information 503 in FIG. 5 and the processing in step 1204 in FIG. 12 can be omitted. If there is no need to suppress the notification message, the processing of the suppression information 1002 in FIG. 10 and steps 1209 and 1210 in FIG. 12 can be omitted.

The management server 111 and the maintenance server 121 in FIG. 1 can be realized by using, for example, an information processing apparatus (computer) as shown in FIG.

19 includes a CPU 1901, a memory 1902, an input device 1903, an output device 1904, an external storage device 1905, a medium driving device 1906, and a network connection device 1907. These are connected to each other by a bus 1908.

The memory 1902 is a semiconductor memory such as a Read Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), or a flash memory, and stores programs and data used for processing. For example, the CPU 1901 executes a program using the memory 1902 to operate as the processing unit 201 in FIG. The memory 1902 can also be used as the storage unit 202 in FIG.

The input device 1903 is, for example, a keyboard, a pointing device, or the like, and is used for inputting an instruction or information from a user or an operator. The output device 1904 is, for example, a display device, a printer, a speaker, or the like, and is used to output an inquiry to a user or an operator or a processing result. The output device 1904 can also be used as the output unit 203 in FIG.

The external storage device 1905 is, for example, a magnetic disk device, an optical disk device, a magneto-optical disk device, a tape device, or the like. The external storage device 1905 includes a hard disk drive. The information processing apparatus can store programs and data in the external storage device 1905 and load them into the memory 1902 for use.

The medium driving device 1906 drives the portable recording medium 1909 and accesses the recorded contents. The portable recording medium 1909 is a memory device, a flexible disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, or the like. The portable recording medium 1909 also includes Compact Disk Read Only Memory (CD-ROM), Digital Versatile Disk (DVD), Universal Serial Bus (USB) memory, and the like. A user or an operator can store programs and data in the portable recording medium 1909 and load them into the memory 1902 for use.

As described above, computer-readable recording media for storing programs and data used in various processes include physical (non-transitory) media such as the memory 1902, the external storage device 1905, and the portable recording medium 1909. ) A recording medium is included.

The network connection device 1907 is a communication interface that is connected to the communication networks 103 and 113 and performs data conversion accompanying communication. One network connection device 1907 may be provided for each of the communication networks 103 and 113. The information processing apparatus can also receive a program and data from an external apparatus via the network connection apparatus 1907 and load them into the memory 1902 for use. The network connection device 1907 can also be used as the output unit 203 in FIG.

Note that the information processing apparatus does not have to include all the components shown in FIG. 19, and some of the components can be omitted depending on the application and conditions. For example, the input device 1903 and the output device 1904 may be omitted when the information processing apparatus does not directly interact with the user or the operator, and the medium driving device 1906 may be omitted when the portable recording medium 1909 is not accessed. Good.

Although the disclosed embodiments and their advantages have been described in detail, those skilled in the art can make various modifications, additions and omissions without departing from the scope of the present invention as explicitly set forth in the claims. Let's go.

Claims (9)

1. An exchange candidate presentation method executed by a computer,
   A notification transmitted from the target device based on configuration information indicating the inclusion relationship between the exchange units by identification information stored in the storage unit and identifying a plurality of exchange units in the target device to be exchanged Obtaining second identification information indicating a second exchange unit including a first exchange unit in the target device indicated by the first identification information included in the information;
   An exchange candidate presenting method comprising outputting exchange candidate information including the second identification information for indicating that the second exchange unit is an exchange candidate.
2. The storage unit further stores exchange candidate change information for designating the change of the exchange candidate, and the computer designates that the exchange candidate change information changes the exchange candidate to a larger exchange candidate. 2. The exchange candidate presenting method according to claim 1, wherein the second identification information indicating the second exchange unit including the first exchange unit is obtained.
3. 3. The exchange candidate presentation method according to claim 2, wherein the exchange candidate change information can be updated from another computer different from the computer.
4. The storage unit further stores history information in which each of the one or more pieces of report information transmitted from the target device or another target device is associated with the type of exchange unit exchanged, and the computer includes: When the notification information transmitted from the target device corresponds to any of the notification information included in the history information, the identification information of the third exchange unit of the type corresponding to the notification information included in the history information is 4. The exchange candidate presentation method according to claim 1, wherein the exchange candidate presentation method is included in the exchange candidate information. 5.
5. 5. The exchange candidate presentation method according to claim 4, wherein the history information can be updated from another computer different from the computer.
6. The storage unit further stores suppression information that specifies a suppression range of the notification information, and the computer is transmitted from the target device when the notification information transmitted from the target device is included in the suppression range. 4. The exchange candidate presenting method according to claim 1, wherein output of the notification information is suppressed.
7. The exchange candidate presentation method according to claim 6, wherein the inhibition information can be updated from another computer different from the computer.
8. A storage unit for storing configuration information indicating an inclusion relationship between the exchange units by identification information for identifying a plurality of exchange units in the target device that is a target of the exchange work;
   Based on the configuration information, the second identification information indicating the second exchange unit including the first exchange unit in the target device indicated by the first identification information included in the notification information transmitted from the target device. A processing unit for obtaining
   An information processing apparatus comprising: an output unit that outputs exchange candidate information including the second identification information for indicating that the second exchange unit is an exchange candidate.
9. A notification transmitted from the target device based on configuration information indicating the inclusion relationship between the exchange units by identification information stored in the storage unit and identifying a plurality of exchange units in the target device to be exchanged Obtaining second identification information indicating a second exchange unit including a first exchange unit in the target device indicated by the first identification information included in the information;
   A program for causing a computer to execute a process of outputting exchange candidate information including the second identification information for indicating that the second exchange unit is an exchange candidate.

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